Super fun to have met you on the Sacramento Crawl and to now see your terrific volcano. It looks wonderful and fun. Time to start a crawl in your area so we can all come and see it work, Wendy
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On 2010-10-12 14:46, danlovestikis wrote:Super fun to have met you on the Sacramento Crawl and to now see your terrific volcano. It looks wonderful and fun. Time to start a crawl in your area so we can all come and see it work, Wendy

thanks a ton.

Talked with Matt on the crawl about doing a monthly pot luck in the Sac area.. our backyard and hosue isnt quite up to the level of amazingness we saw on the crawl, but its open to all that would like to partake in the mysterious rights that surround the lighting of the volcano. We are right around the corner in Carmichael if anyone would wants to come by and check it out. Yer all welcome anytime... I hvae the mother of all blenders and make a mean tropical drink (virgin or otherwise).

Mt. Ubangee 2.0 will have channels cut in the side of it with molded/slightly melted plexiglass in the channels to carry water from a pump hidden inside. The channels will be backlit with a series of DMX controlled LED lights that can change colors. Think, blue during "normal" volcano operation, then changing to red when the volcano "erupts" so it looks like lava flowing down the sides. DMX controlled smoke machine and SFX generator are in the plans as well. If i really get crazy with it, an animatronic Tiki or skull will be in the show as well.

Hey Choptop, glad someone can use the model railroad waterfall tutorial for inspiration. Sounds completely awesome what you have planned be sure to get some good pics I can't wait to see it. Love your volcano as it already is, but your plans for it are going to make it off the map incredible.

so its been a number of years since I built the Great and Mysterious Mt. Ubangee... So here is an update.

the structure of the volcano is holding up well. The plywood that sits exposed and in contact with the dirt at the rear of the structure has rotted some, but the internal structure is fine.

the firebox thermocoupler gave out a few years back. I replaced it but could never get it to act QUITE right... so after much fussing I id away with the fire feature. I was sad to do it and didnt want to spend the ~$1800 for a new fire box... So I went with a professional grade smoke machine and a color changing LED light. The smoke machine is DMX controllable (so I will be able to use it in the whole backyard tiki show I have planned). The smoke actually looks a little better than the fire in my mind. Its nice to be able to change the color of the eruption.

its pretty hard to get a good pic of the mountain... but here is a decent one..

I assume you mean in the lava. And no joke, that might actually look cool at night. It'll reflect the light well and light it up some. Though myself, I'd use some white acrylic and individually addressable LED strips to make it look like it's flowing. (Also DMX controllable, of course)

thats been turning over in my pea brain. how to make convincing "lava". The clear panels in the side of the mt. are the way to go... but I think that after that it might need to be a water sfx light shining on the back of it, or a wrinkled gel roller... dont know. Embedding metal flake in the clear portions might be a good idea... will have to make up some test panels for that.

On 2013-07-09 07:50, Choptop wrote:thats been turning over in my pea brain. how to make convincing "lava". The clear panels in the side of the mt. are the way to go... but I think that after that it might need to be a water sfx light shining on the back of it, or a wrinkled gel roller... dont know. Embedding metal flake in the clear portions might be a good idea... will have to make up some test panels for that.

Actually, I have a lot of ideas for that. I'm typing this from work right now, but when I get a chance, I'll post my thoughts on the subject here. I make things for a living, check out Inventionland. By things, I mean any and everything. This type of thing is right up my alley. I'll try to throw up some thoughts at lunch, if I can wait that long. Hahaha. So many ideas racking around in my head.

the problem is that it doesnt really read "red" (that can be fixed with a gel though) and that its a little bit of a BIG efx for such a small area (as the lava "channels" would be. I'm thinking some clear resin, cast up all lumpy, with some embedded red and orange metal flake, with an efx light behind it might be the way to go. Or some sort of scrolling led strip that could have chasing red and orange lights.